It Happened On #100!

This is it folks. It Happened On’s final instalment. After 100 editions, I think it’s time to put it to rest. No more history bites..on this blog anyway

It happened on January 5 1933, construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge, as workers began excavating 3.25 million cubic feet of dirt for the structure’s huge anchorages

Although the idea went back as far as 1869, the proposal took root in 1916. A former engineering student, James Wilkins, working as a journalist with the San Francisco Bulletin, called for a suspension bridge with a center span of 3,000 feet, nearly twice the length of any in existence. Wilkins’ idea was estimated to cost an astounding $100 million. So, San Francisco’s city engineer, Michael M. O’Shaughnessy, began asking bridge engineers whether they could do it for less

Engineer and poet Joseph Strauss, a 5-foot tall Cincinnati-born Chicagoan, said he could

Eventually, O’Shaughnessy and Strauss concluded they could build a pure suspension bridge within a practical range of $25-30 million with a main span at least 4,000 feet. The construction plan still faced opposition, including litigation, from many sources

The Golden Gate Bridge officially opened on May 27, 1937, the longest bridge span in the world at the time. The first public crossing had taken place the day before, when 200,000 people walked, ran and even roller skated over the new bridge

Also on January 5 1982, a series of landslides near San Francisco, California, kills up to 33 people and closes the Golden Gate Bridge. In all, an amazing 18,000 different landslides took place in the San Francisco Bay Area following a very heavy rain storm

Meanwhile, in Canada, on January 5 1982, Elizabeth Bagshaw dies at age 100. Bagshaw was one of Canada’s first female doctors; she graduated from the University of Toronto in 1905, and practiced medicine for over 60 years

That’s it. It’s done. I may do a few entries here and there, but no more daily editions. R.I.P. It Happened On